Year of the Spark: March 23 to 28
by Sparky Army
Summary: After a mishap with an Ancient device John and Elizabeth are forced to spend a lot more time together! Next installement of a year's worth of Sparky stories.
1. Chapter 1

_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Though the Powers that Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you, and anyone might happen to read these works, agree. _

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some --and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

**Author's note **(SenseOfTime):This idea came to me quite awhile ago and I thought what better place to post it than as part of YotS!  So I hope you like it, please let me know what you think!

* * *

**Two's Company**

_By SenseOfTime_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"I told you not to touch anything!"

"No, you said not to interfere with anything that I didn't understand," John replied firmly.

"That's the same thing where you're concerned!" Rodney fumed. He stalked past the soldiers who were guarding the gate as the wormhole behind them closed down. John rolled his eyes and glanced back at Elizabeth hoping that she would share his sentiments concerning Rodney's tirade, but she gave him a cool look which definitely said that she was not in the mood for jokes. John took the hint as Rodney marched the two of them down to his lab.

"You guys can probably head off," John said, turning to Ronon and Teyla. "I have a feeling that Rodney's going to yell at me for the next few hours and you guys shouldn't have to sit through that." Teyla gave him a sympathetic nod, while Ronon simply smirked at him, before heading down a different corridor.

"So," he said, calling ahead to Rodney who was talking hurriedly to Elizabeth, "how long do you reckon it'll take you to work this one out, 'cause I've got quite a bit on at the moment."

"Please accept my sincerest apologies that my attempts to get you out of this mess –giving up my free time, might I add- are going to cut so drastically into your social time," Rodney muttered sarcastically. John decided against any more conversation with the enraged scientist and looked at Elizabeth instead, she turned back to look at him as they walked.

"It can't be that much of a problem," he told her reassuringly.

"John," she replied, very obviously trying to calm herself, "at the moment I'm treating it as a very big problem." Her tone told John that any response on his part would do him no good and would probably only serve to put him in her bad books, even more so than he already was; he shut his mouth decisively and made sure that he stayed a few metres behind them

"Radek!" Rodney yelled as soon as they were at the lab.

"Yes Rodney?" Radek replied with a long suffering sigh from where he sat at his desk.

"You're going to have to rearrange your chess game this afternoon because our intrepid Colonel has once again ignored my warnings and got himself into a spot of trouble; this time dragging Elizabeth down with him all the way."

"Hey! I said I was sorry."

"That's wonderful! Has it magically solved the problem? No!" Rodney told him. "Now sit over there and let us run some tests; I dread to think what you've got yourself into this time; I mean the implications if we can't reverse this are-"

"Rodney, I know you're feeling stressed right now," Elizabeth told him calmly, "But I'd appreciate a little optimism."

"Fair enough," he said with a sigh.

"What's the problem?" Zelenka asked.

"We were looking at the research from a lab on P77-813. It was a security research base and Sheppard managed to activate the Ancients' version of handcuffs; Elizabeth was caught in the beam as well and now the two of them are stuck together."

"Handcuffs?" Zelenka asked, clearly unconvinced.

"Yes, handcuffs, and we need to find a way to deactivate them."

"I don't see any handcuffs."

"It's not handcuffs per say," Rodney said with a sigh, "it's an invisible force without a physical form that links them together and won't let them move further than 11.135 metres apart."

"11.135?" Zelenka asked.

"Ancient measurements, don't ask me," Rodney shrugged. "And not only that; they can't move any closer together than 1.371 metres.

"What would be the point of such a link?" Zelenka asked, frowning as he glanced at the two of them.

"I've been thinking about that and I think it's safe to say that it's some kind of transportation restraint for the Wraith. These measurements mean that the Wraith wouldn't be able to wander too far, but also wouldn't be able to feed on their guard."

"Well what happens if they move further apart or closer together than those measurements?"

"That's just it; we can't" John told him. "Look."

"No," Elizabeth said firmly, "I think an explanation will suffice."

"Basically," Rodney began, "as soon as they are at the maximum separation distance the link kicks in and stops them; it's like a rope; except that the Ancients had the advantage; basically anyone who has the Ancient gene is automatically made the stronger of the two. In this case the Colonel can just pull Elizabeth along after 11.135 metres. Similarly if he moves towards her, as soon as the 1.371 metre limit is reached, Elizabeth is pushed backwards."

"What does it feel like?" Zelenka asked. John glanced over at Elizabeth deciding she'd probably give a better description.

"It's hard to describe. If John gets too close a force pushes me backwards, if he gets too far away the same Force will pull me along, but if I'm walking towards him and get too close it feels like a wall is blocking my way. If I walk away it's as if a rope is pulling me back," she explained simply.

"And it doesn't hurt?"

"Not really; just kinda strange" John supplied. Zelenka glanced over at Elizabeth and she nodded in confirmation.

"Well that is something to be thankful for," Zelenka smiled.

"I'll be more thankful when it's not there at all," John replied smoothly.

"Yes of course," Zelenka coughed. "Well we can start right now; what information did you bring back from the base?"

"Nothing," Rodney sighed. "The whole place was destroyed apart from the machine; there's no information on how it worked, nothing except the wonderful live demonstration that you have standing in front of you. I took them both back to the lab after we realised what had happened, but the linking process, whatever you want to call it, ate up the last of its power and destroyed most of the power crystals in the process." Zelelnka opened his mouth to speak, "and before you say anything, no, we can't repair the machine; I didn't recognise the crystals they used, I think they may have been developed towards the end of the war with the Wraith; just thrown together as best they could be. We can't fix it."

"So we've got to find a way of sorting it out without any of that?" Zelenka asked.

"Very good Einstein; I'm so pleased I have you working with me on this one."

Zelenka headed over to the other side of the lab, muttering something in Czech, and John waited patiently for Rodney to start his next rant. He risked another look at Elizabeth, but she still didn't seem very enthusiastic about talking to him and so he inwardly sighed and waited for the tests to begin.

* * *

"Well," Rodney said, several hours later, "we've got all the data we can collect for now, and we're going to have to wait for some diagnostics."

"How long will that take?" Elizabeth asked. She got up from the chair that she'd been sitting in and came over to stand as close as she could to John without being met by the invisible barrier. Thankfully the hours of joint testing that they'd had to go through seemed to have mellowed her attitude towards him and now she gave him a reassuring nod, which he willingly returned.

"A day, maybe two," Rodney said with a shrug. John exchanged a serious glance with Elizabeth.

"And how long 'til you find a way to reverse it?" he asked.

"I don't know; we might get the diagnostics back and be able to engineer some sort of reversal process by tomorrow night."

"Okay, well that's good," John nodded.

"Or the diagnostics might tell us nothing and we'd be back to square one," he added hesitantly.

"So you're saying we could be stuck like this for awhile?" John asked, his tone hardening.

"Look; I told you not to touch it; this isn't my fault, but I'm trying to fix it," Rodney huffed.

"Thank you for your efforts Rodney," Elizabeth interjected, "and you Radek; we appreciate them. Now, are we free to go?" she asked.

"Yes, as far as I can tell, but what are you planning on doing? 11.135 metres isn't very far and 1.371 isn't that close."

"We'll figure something out," John told him with a wave of his hand, before following Elizabeth out. "We'll figure something out, right?" he repeated to her in a low voice.

"I don't see that we have much choice, John," she replied with a sigh, glancing back at him. "If you want to come to my office now, we'll discuss it."

"To be honest Elizabeth we're not going to be able to get far enough away from each other to ever be in a position where we can't discuss," he replied.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Elizabeth; I can't miss that training session."

"Why don't you let Ronon take it, just this once?" she asked with a frustrated sigh; they had been trying to work out a schedule for the two of them over the next few days, one that enabled both of them to do as much of their normal activities as possible, but it seemed that she and her Military Commander both had incredibly busy days coming up. He began pacing the room, occasionally walking up to the desk only to retreat again when Elizabeth was forced backwards by the 1.371 metre limit.

"Sorry," he shrugged apologetically. "But listen; these are the brand new recruits from the SGC; I have to be there for their first session on principle; they have to have every faith in me and they have to know that they can count on me. What's it gonna look like if I'm not there for their first lot of training."

"John, you met all of them two days ago when they first arrived."

"Training is a completely new interaction."

"I have three meetings with teams that afternoon; I can't put them off; they've all gathered intelligence on the Wraith that I need to be aware of."

"Reschedule them for the morning."

"I've got four meetings in the morning."

"You can fit them all in."

"Yes, I could, but then I'd have no time to do my paperwork and it needs to be completely finished before the weekly update with the SGC."

"Bring your paper work with you to the Training hall."

"I don't think a military training session is going to provide me with the best atmosphere for writing important documents."

"Come on Elizabeth; you're the best linguist, diplomat and writer on the entire base; a little noise isn't going to be an issue." She raised an eyebrow at the comment; flattery was going to get him nowhere, or at least that's what she told herself, but she felt a smile creeping onto her face nonetheless.

"I'll make you a deal," she said leaning forward.

"I'm listening," he said with a grin, from where he stood across the room.

"I'll give you your afternoon training session if you back down on your morning run."

"Oh, come on," he said with mock indignation. "Elizabeth, a morning run is a great way to start the day; I'll go slow for you and I'll show you parts of the city that even you haven't seen yet. And think about it; if you get tired I'll just pull you along."

"Even if I wanted to go for a morning run, which I don't," she pointed out, giving him a look, "I don't have time for one. So there's the deal; your training session in exchange for a run-free morning."

John scowled at her good-naturedly, but eventually nodded.

"Fine," he said, "but if Ronon beats me because I'm out of practice, I know who I'm blaming." Elizabeth frowned at him.

"You beat Ronon on your runs?"

"Not exactly, but I'll have no chance after however many days without training." She laughed at the comment and John turned to go, a smile on his face. She watched him and sighed inwardly, wandering how long it would take him to realise what he was doing. He was half way across the bridge and she was about to call him back, not really wanting to be pulled across her desk by an invisible link, when he turned and walked back of his own accord.

"I can't do that can I," he said.

"No," Elizabeth told him with an apologetic smile.

"Okay," he sighed. He moved forward as if to sit on the corner of the desk that he usually occupied, but stopped as he realised that that would be too close. She saw frustration pass across his face as he stared almost longingly at the spot, before he turned and sat on one of the chairs by the wall. "What else have we got to sort out?"

"Meals are straightforward; we just go for them at the same time, although we might have to sit at different tables."

"Or push a few together and sit at opposite ends," he suggested. She nodded in agreement. "What about snacks?" he asked.

"Snacks?"

"There's no way you're going to convince me to go without snacks."

"Why do you need them?"

"Because I get hungry," he said with a shake of his head, clearly believing that was stupid question.

"Alright; how many trips to the mess hall do you make in a day, not including main meals?" Elizabeth watched as he mentally counted up, resisting the urge to laugh at the concentration on his face.

"Six times."

"Six?!"

"It's normally more, but the food at meal times is better at the moment."

"I'll give you two."

"Not a chance."

"Once in the morning and once in the afternoon!" she explained.

"I'm not going any less than four."

"John-"

"Elizabeth you're a diplomat, I shouldn't have to explain to you how this works," he said with a grin. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"This isn't diplomacy, it's haggling."

"Same thing; diplomacy is just glorified haggling." She shook her head at the comment.

"Okay, John, if it's the only way. You can have three snacks."

"You've got yourself a deal," he said, coming forward and holding out his hand. She felt the invisible force press against her and she was pushed back in her chair, towards the wall of her office. He stopped his approach and shook his head.

"Sorry," he muttered, sitting back down, "I just can't get used to this."

"Don't worry," she told him, pulling her chair forwards again.

"Give me a bit longer and I'll remember," he assured her. "Okay, next item on the agenda; evening activities."

"I have to work in the evenings."

"Not while you're linked to me."

"John, trust me, I can't fit all my work in if I don't use the evenings."

"And I get real cranky if I don't have a few hours to relax in an evening."

"I can live with that."

"Do you really want to risk it though?" John asked. "If I'm in a bad mood, you're not going to be able to get away from me." Elizabeth sat back on her chair and ran a hand through her hair.

"How many hours are we talking about?" she asked reluctantly.

"Four," he said decisively.

"John, I'm not playing the haggling game with you again; I can't take four hours off."

"Okay, well how about two?" he suggested. Elizabeth frowned; could she afford two hours off in an evening? She had so much to do and so much to think about. "Elizabeth; it'll only be watching a film, or reading a book; if you really need to work you'll be able to, but there's no way in hell I'm staying in this office for the entire evening."

"Alright," she said eventually, "two hours of relaxation in the evening."

"Good! Okay, so the last thing is sleeping arrangements." An uncomfortable silence descended on the two of them. Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure what to say about that; she couldn't imagine how wild the rumours would be if she and John were sharing a bedroom; they were already bad enough, from what she could gather. "I vote your room."

"Pardon?" Elizabeth asked him, "Why mine?"

"It's the bigger of the two," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, well I suppose that makes sense then," she said hesitantly.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"We could move into two smaller rooms temporarily; ones that are next to each other."

"Do you really think that would be practical for getting ready in the morning, or getting changed at night?" he asked her, unconvinced. "I mean I'd walk to one side of my room and you'd be dragged towards the wall in yours; it just wouldn't work."

"Alright," Elizabeth said after a moment, "I suppose my room is the logical choice."

"Good; that's sorted," he nodded. "Do you wanna offer me your bed, or shall I take the floor?" he grinned.

"Nice try, but you get the floor," she told him firmly, he smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. "I think that's everything for tomorrow; meetings in the morning, training in the afternoon, three snack breaks, two hours of relaxation, no-morning run and we're sleeping in my room." The absurdity of the entire sentence made Elizabeth want to bury her head in her hands, but she resisted the urge.

"Okay, well I'll see you later, Elizabeth," John told her, getting up and heading to the door. He didn't get onto the bridge this time, before turning round. "Dammit; this is going to take some getting used to. I don't suppose you wanna go to the mess do you, because I'm getting hungry."

"I just need to finish off some reports," she told him, already hunting through her drawer.

"That wasn't really a suggestion, Elizabeth. I'm starving, and to be honest I could just pull you along to the mess hall, but it'd be so much easier if we just walked."

"Fine, but a quick tea," she warned him.

"No problem; I eat quickly."

* * *

Tea was an interesting affair in John's opinion. The walk to the mess hall had taken fifteen minutes because they couldn't use the transporters; there wasn't enough room for them to keep at least 1.371 metres apart, and so they had gone the long way round, being forced to walk on opposite sides of the corridors to keep the right amount of distance between them. At one point John had lifted his hand to point something out, which had sent Elizabeth careering in the wall, much to her annoyance, only to be repeated when John on instinct moved to check that she was alright. He had backed up quickly, while Elizabeth assured him that she'd just have a few bruises tomorrow to show for it and from then on he kept his hands firmly at his side.

When they got to the mess hall John let Elizabeth go first and joined the queue a few moments later when there were about five people in between them. Elizabeth waited for him to get his food, something that took five minutes more than it should have done when one of the people in front of him complained that they wanted a different sauce to the ones that were available. The server had disappeared into the kitchens, leaving Elizabeth waiting for John while her food went cold. Eventually John had his meal and the two of them headed over to a number of empty tables; quickly John rearranged them so that they could sit at the same one without being too close.

"This is ridiculous," Elizabeth said with a sigh as she sat down with her tray. John did the same at the opposite end of the table and gave her an apologetic shrug.

"Best I could do," he replied; trying to keep his voice down as much as possible, but it was difficult; he was having to speak louder anyway because of the noise in the hall, but the extra distance made it even worse, not to mention the fact that people were giving him and Elizabeth odd looks anyway because of the rearranged tables.

"I know," she sighed, "I just hope Rodney finds a way to fix this sooner rather than later."

"Are you saying that being linked to me isn't something you're enjoying?" John asked, mock hurt on his face.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," she teased back.

"I'd storm off to show how upset I am," he told her as he dug into his food, "but I'm hungry and I know you'd only follow me anyway." She laughed at the comment, which John was thoroughly pleased about; being thrown into a wall twice as well as having to wait for food and then having everyone staring hadn't put her in the best mindsets, understandably so, and John wanted to make sure that the time they were linked together was as enjoyable as it could be.

It was alright for him; he could move around freely, but he was sure it was frustrating for Elizabeth, having to think about her every move and being incredibly restricted in what she could do.

The meal passed quickly, as John had promised, and they were joined by Teyla and Ronon for the last five minutes. His team mates had been sympathetic towards the predicament, although John was sure that Ronon secretly found it quite amusing. John would have liked to stay and chat to them, but Elizabeth was firm about the work that she had to get done and so John reluctantly said goodbye. They headed to John's quarters so that he could pick up his laptop before going back down to Elizabeth's office, John mentally preparing himself for the hours of work that lay ahead every step of the way.

It didn't take long, however, for him to give up on his reports and switch to playing games on his laptop. He managed to engage Elizabeth in conversation for a few minutes at a time, but she was incredibly busy and John found himself counting down the hours to when he could claim that it was time for his evening of relaxation.

"Okay, we're stopping now Elizabeth," he told her a few hours later.

"I just need to finish one last file."

"Nope, now. That was the deal; two hours of relaxation in the evening."

"You could just stay up a few minutes longer tonight," she suggested glancing down at the paper. John frowned at her and, making a decision, stepped closer to her desk. Automatically Elizabeth was forced backwards, leaving the file she'd been looking at on the desk and out of her reach. She looked at him clearly unimpressed, but he grinned at her.

"John, I appreciate that you have a certain amount of power over me while we're linked, but-"

"I know; I shouldn't exploit that power, and I promise I won't do it again, but a deal's a deal Elizabeth, you should know that and now is my relaxation time. You can bring the file with you if you want, but I need a break and you definitely need a break."

She stared at him, a stern look on her face that John had been on the receiving end of on more than one occasion, but she relented and nodded.

"Very well; we can go."

"Good," he nodded, before stepping back. She pulled her chair forward and collected her files.

"But I mean it; don't do that again," she added and John realised that she wasn't pleased by his actions.

"I won't, and I'm sorry," he replied softly. She nodded and gave him a smile and they headed for John's quarters.

Two hours later John was feeling tired, even Elizabeth had finished with her work and picked up one of his books to read about half an hour earlier. He considered asking her if she wanted to go to sleep, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth; it was just too strange to ask whether they could go to bed yet. Elizabeth too, seemed intent on avoiding the subject and before John knew it, another hour had passed by. He was about to ask her, deciding that he needed sleep more than he needed to save his pride, when his headset buzzed. He tapped it.

"Sheppard."

"Sheppard; are you two still awake. Me and Zelenka have been going over the test results and it seems that there's a strong energy link between you and Elizabeth, but the frequency isn't one we recognise," Rodney told him in a rush. John heard Zelenka's voice in the background.

"It seems familiar to me Rodney, just because you don't recognise it it doesn't make my observations wrong," the Czech was saying.

"Fine," Rodney sighed over the headset, "Zelenka thinks he's seen it, but can't tell me where or when, or what it is. So we need you and Elizabeth to stay in the lab overnight."

"Why?" John asked with a frown.

"To study the frequency more closely; it's possible that it will change when the two linked people are not in a fully awake state; after all it wouldn't need to be so strong when you're both asleep."

"You want us to sleep in the lab?" At this Elizabeth glanced up, something akin to relief on her face.

"Yes."

John glanced over at Elizabeth and quickly related what McKay had said.

"That okay?" he asked her. She nodded. "Alright McKay, we'll be down there in two minutes. No, make that fifteen," he said with a sigh, remembering the lack of transporters. "But I hope you've got us some beds."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Elizabeth suppressed a groan as she woke up the following morning to the bright lights of one of Atlantis' numerous labs. On the other side of the room John was sitting up on his bed, playing on his laptop, while Rodney and Zelenka were over by the computers.

"Sleep well?" John asked her, a wry grin on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him; it had been a terrible night of sleep. Not only had she had to sleep in her clothes on a highly uncomfortable bed, she had also been woken up three or four times by Rodney and Zelenka arguing about results they had gathered. She didn't have a clue what time the scientists had finally called it a night and left her and John in peace in the labs, but she was certain that it had only been a few hours ago; she felt exhausted.

"I've had better nights of rest," she replied, before sitting up in bed and throwing the covers back. "How about you?" She glanced over at him whilst pulling her fingers through her hair, suddenly very aware of just how much of a mess it must look. She felt her cheeks reddening as she tried to brush it before turning her attention to smoothing down her clothes.

"Oh you know," John shrugged, "not as good as my own bed, but much better than Wraith prison cell."

"What time is it?"

"About eight," John replied with a half smile.

"What?!" Elizabeth asked with slightly more force than she had intended. "John, I've got a meeting in half an hour."

"I know," he said with a frown, "I was about to wake you up."

"I haven't got anything ready," she said, jumping down from the bed, trying to mentally go through everything that she needed to sort out before the meeting. She needed to get washed and dressed for a start, and then she needed to track down all the files that she would be using in the morning's meetings.

"You've got plenty of time," John told her.

"John, I'm not even dressed. We need to go."

"I just thought you could do with the extra sleep, after mad scientist one and mad scientist two over here," he said, nodding his head at Rodney and Zelenka, "kept you up all night."

"I'm normally up at seven to prepare for meetings, you realise," Elizabeth told him sharply.

"Hey, you could have set an alarm," he pointed out. She sighed and nodded.

"I know, I'm sorry; it's just I've got a lot to do."

"Well," he grinned, "I think you might be pleased with these then," he said, reaching behind him and producing a thick pile of folders. He moved forward and placed them on a workbench. Elizabeth waited for him to move back so that she could go and pick them up.

"What are…" she began, but stopped when she realised that they were all the files she would need for her meetings. She looked up at him, shock on her face, he grinned at her. "But when did you get these?"

"I called Teyla, asked her to go and find them in your office, she knows where everything is. She brought them over about an hour ago. So all you need to do is get changed, I'm fine staying in these things for now," he told her, nodding with a smile. "And," he continued, "I took the liberty of sending Rodney to get you some breakfast a few minutes ago." He pointed behind her. She turned and saw a cup of coffee and a couple of pieces of toast and jam sitting on the table behind her. Gratitude washed through her and she turned to John with a smile.

"Thank you," she told him, picking up the toast and taking a bite.

"No problem, least I could do after getting you into this mess."

Elizabeth had a quick chat to Rodney, who told them that they hadn't managed to find a solution yet but that they hoped the results from the night of sleep would help, before heading to her quarters eating her toast and drinking her coffee, while John followed behind her, staying a couple of metres back.

She'd finished her breakfast by the time she got to her room and they both went in. Grabbing a change of clothes from her drawers, while John sat on the bed and waited, she disappeared into the ensuite and hastily washed and changed into fresh clothes, feeling awake and alert by the time she stepped back out into her room.

"Well I'm impressed," John told her, "I've never known a woman who can get ready so quickly."

"Two and a half years on Atlantis gives you lots of practice," she explained with a teasing smile. They were soon heading down to the briefing room, John with a less than enthusiastic look on his face and Elizabeth mentally preparing herself for the hours of meetings that lay ahead of her.

"Well John," she said as they reached the room and waited for the team to arrive, "are you ready for your morning of meetings?"

"Can't wait," he nodded with a grim smile.

* * *

John had never been so bored in all his life. His briefings with his own team were usually bearable, half because he got through them as quickly as he could and half because he was able to talk to Elizabeth throughout them, but the meetings this morning had been dull in the extreme. He didn't know how Elizabeth managed to continue to look interested as hour after hour passed by.

John had found his mind wandering more than it ever had done in the past two and a half years. He'd contemplated his childhood, his position on Atlantis, what his future might hold and what he really wanted in life. He had even moved on to the meaning of life at one point, but had decided that he still wasn't that bored.

He had found the first few meetings vaguely interesting; the new intel. on the Wraith had had his mind racing over possible strategies and techniques Atlantis could deploy in the event of an attack, but the next meetings had been with scientists and linguists and archaeologists and John found his attention slipping word by word. At first he had started tapping out Jonny Cash songs on the table, but Elizabeth had fixed him with such a sharp glare that he'd stopped immediately. After that he had taken to counting the tiles on the ceiling of the briefing room and when he'd done that had just let his mind drift. Every now and then he'd realise that he'd been drawn out of his musings by Elizabeth's voice, and would find himself staring at her while she tirelessly dealt with all the people that she was talking with.

He was still staring at her when she stood up to say goodbye to the last team of the day. They left the briefing room and Elizabeth sat down. She leant forward on the desk and ran her hands through her hair, with a sigh.

"You okay 'Lizabeth?" John asked, sitting forward. She looked up at him, a tired smile on her face.

"I'm fine; it's just that seven meetings in a row can be exhausting."

"You're telling me," he nodded. She raised and eyebrow at him. "What?" he asked indignantly.

"John, you closed your eyes at one point."

"So that I could take in all that was being said," he grinned. She rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair.

"I'm sorry that you've had to sit through all of those meetings," Elizabeth told him apologetically.

"Nah," he said shaking his head, "it wasn't that bad." She looked at him, clearly unconvinced. "Okay," John admitted, "it was possibly the most boring morning I've ever lived through. Please, never leave me in charge of Atlantis."

"I'll try to remember that," she smiled.

"So, do you wanna go and get some lunch?"

"Ah, I've deprived you of one of your snacks haven't I," she said, gathering up her files.

"I didn't wanna mention it," he admitted, "but you know, a deal's a deal, and I've just sat through seven meetings, and while the company was great, the general entertainment wasn't up to scratch."

"Well I'm glad my company made up for some of it," she smiled. She stood up and John moved to walk next to her, but she staggered back as the invisible link kicked in.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's better than been thrown into a wall," she replied.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that-" he began, but stopped when she gave a half laugh; she was teasing him. "Here was me thinking that you were the picture of diplomacy, yet you're stooping to my level of ridicule and winding-up."

"Living in the same city as you for so long, John; you tend to pick up some traits."

"You'd be bored without me," he grinned.

"I don't know; I'd be able to relax a bit more often."

"Are you saying that you worry about me?" he said playfully as they headed out into the corridor.

"You and your team," she replied smoothly. "Do you know, you have the highest injury rate of all our teams."

"It's been mentioned once or twice," he shrugged. She shook her head and continued walking, heading for the mess hall, with a smile on her face.

* * *

Elizabeth couldn't concentrate. It was one thing writing up a treaty in the calmness of her office, it was another thing to be doing it in a room full of soldiers who were systematically throwing themselves onto the floor and attacking each other. She had been there for two hours now, and her head was starting to pound from the constant yelling.

She turned her attention from her lap top and watched some of the training for a few minutes. She had to admit that John and Ronon were doing a great job; the recruits seemed to respond well to John's leadership, and his whole demeanour was different from what she usually saw. He was focused and full of certainty; his laid back humour and boyish grin were gone, replaced instead with the stern confidence of a Military Commander.

Meanwhile the new soldiers kept a healthy distance between Ronon and themselves, viewing him with a respectful awe, clearly unwilling to engage in sparring with him if they could possibly avoid it.

Despite her painful head, Elizabeth found that she was enjoying seeing the training sessions; John had often mentioned them in passing, but she'd never actually been along and seen one for any more than a few minutes. For the most part she went unnoticed by the people in the room, but every now and then John would turn and give her a nod, seemingly checking that she was alright. She would smile at him and nod, to which he would grin, before turning back to his recruits.

Sure enough a few moments later John turned to her, his eyes searching for hers while the recruits moved into pairs. She returned the smile, before quickly rearranging her files that sat on the bench beside her. She had picked one of the central spectator benches on which to sit on the basis that that way John would be able to move around almost the whole of the room; the only places that were further than 11.135 metres were the back corners and so far he had avoided them admirably.

She got back to her work, browsing through a few mission reports that Major Lorne's team had submitted yesterday, when all of a sudden she felt herself pulled forward sharply by the link. She made a grab for her laptop to stop it from hitting the floor, before sprawling onto it herself, falling heavily on her shoulder and only just managing to stifle a cry of pain.

"Eliz- Doctor Weir!" John said in alarm, his use of her title sounding odd, but she knew it was necessary in front of the new soldiers. He headed over to her, stopping a metre and a half away so that he didn't push her back. Behind him the recruits were staring at her, clearly confused at what could possibly have happened. She felt her cheeks redden, but managed to pull herself into a standing position.

"My apologies," she said to the soldiers in the room, "I slipped." They looked unconvinced by her explanation, but Ronon took over from John and ordered them back to their exercises. She turned her attention back to John and saw his apologetic face staring at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, softly.

"I'm fine; it was just a bit of a shock."

"I'm really sorry 'Lizabeth; I completely forgot. One of the soldiers hadn't quite got his positioning right, so I went over to-"

"It's fine John, really, no harm done." She glanced down and saw that her files had gone all over the floor; she bent down to pick them up.

"I'd help but…" he tailed off, looking helpless, and, Elizabeth thought, slightly annoyed at his inability to offer her any assistance.

"John, don't worry; go back to you soldiers." He looked at her for several seconds and then nodded again.

"Sorry," he repeated, before heading back over to the recruits. Elizabeth smiled to herself; at least he was genuinely apologetic when he sent her crashing to the floor. She rubbed her elbow surreptitiously, not wanting John to see the movement, before organising her files once again. She got back to Lorne's report, but had soon finished that and was moving onto the rest of them, constantly signing her name to say that she accepted the report, before filing it away in her folders so that she could organise them properly when she went to her office later on.

Another hour passed, with Elizabeth's headache reaching painful levels, when she once again felt the invisible tug of the link and found herself pitching forward. This time she didn't manage to grab her lap top and it skittered across the floor, while the files that had been next to her met the same fate. She hit the floor hard and twisted her wrist as she tried to catch herself. This time she managed to stand up before John could scramble over to her. The recruits were eyeing her with something akin to disbelief, and she realised that this couldn't go on any longer; she couldn't have the new military expedition members thinking that their leader was slightly mad.

"Colonel Sheppard, can I have a word with you?" she said curtly as John reached her, his face showing his guilt clearly. He nodded, saying nothing and followed her out of the training room, while Ronon continued the lesson.

"John," she began with a sigh.

"Elizabeth, I'm really sorry," he said quickly, moving forward, obviously trying to reach out and place a hand on her arm to check she was alright, but the movement sent her skittering back down the corridor. She fixed him with a frown and he stopped. "I'm sorry," he said again. He pulled his arm back slowly and let it fall to his side and suddenly Elizabeth wished that there was a way to break through the link right now. She realised, with shock, that she missed the close proximity that she and John always tended to share. It wasn't something that they did consciously, but she would often find him standing right beside her, their arms brushing each other's gently. She missed knowing that she simply had to turn her head a fraction to find John behind her, looking at her. She had taken it for granted, had never known how much she relied on having him right next to her, giving her strength and confidence. She pushed the thoughts from her head; they wouldn't help to solve the situation that she currently found herself in. She sighed heavily.

"I know none of this is intentional, John, but this isn't giving the best impression of me to your new recruits."

"They won't care."

"They've just watched me throw myself on the floor twice," she said incredulously.

"Okay, so they might think it's a bit odd, but what else can we do? It was you who said you didn't want many people to know what was going on."

She sighed and nodded her head in recognition of that fact; she just hadn't wanted to give the rest of the base something to whisper about behind their backs, but if she had to choose between a few ill-placed comments about her and John or rumours that she had finally cracked under the strain she knew which one she would prefer.

"I've changed my mind," she eventually said, "I want you to tell the new recruits what the situation is, and hopefully they won't say much about it to anyone else." John gave her a look which clearly said that that was wishful thinking.

"How long have you lived on Atlantis, Elizabeth?" he asked. "Have you ever known anyone on this base to keep their mouth shut when it comes to things like this."

"That isn't helping me to feel better about the situation," she pointed out. He grinned at her and nodded.

"Let's go and tell them then."

They returned to the training room to see that Ronon had organised them into small groups, allowing them to try out the moves they had learnt so far on more than one person. Elizabeth followed John in and stood as close as she could to him, without initiating the link.

"Right, take a break!" John called. The soldiers stopped, and turned to John, standing up straight and breathing heavily. John turned to Elizabeth indicating that she should take over. She nodded and carefully looked around the room.

"I would like to take the opportunity to explain to all of you what has been happening to me during this training session. On our last offworld trip Colonel Sheppard and I accidentally activated a device which has unfortunately linked us together. As such we are unable to move more than a certain distance apart and similarly we are not able to get closer than about a metre and a half."

"Bearing this in mind," John continued, "there will be no rumours spread around the base concerning myself or Doctor Weir or our capabilities as leaders; if I hear anything you lot will be my prime suspects. Is that clear?"

A strong affirmation of the fact was taken up by all the soldiers and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for listening, I hope that explanation has cleared a few things up."

At a nod from John, the men continued with their exercises. He turned to look at her.

"How was that then?"

"Good. Thank you for that John, I appreciate it."

"No problem," he grinned, before heading back to his trainees. Elizabeth reclaimed her place on the bench, gathering all her papers back up and checking her laptop. She opened it and continued with her work, but was stopped when she heard one of the soldiers voices on the other side of the room. He was speaking quietly to his colleague, probably assuming that he couldn't be heard above the noise in the training room, but Elizabeth could make every word out.

"I bet Colonel Sheppard's not complaining about the link," he grinned at his friend. Elizabeth felt annoyance flare up inside her; well there went all her hopes of avoiding any rumours. She glanced about to see if John had heard the comment, but he was sorting out another group. She sighed, she'd just have to get used to it, she supposed, but a moment later John's voice called out over the room.

"Fielding, I want you to pair up with Ronon!"

Elizabeth glanced up to see the solider who had made the comment looking firstly at John in disbelief and secondly at Ronon in trepidation.

"Don't go easy on him buddy, I wanna see exactly what he can do," John added, nodding to Ronon. The solider reluctantly moved over to where Ronon was and settled in a defensive stance. Elizabeth turned to John to see him giving her a conspiratorial nod. She smiled; perhaps he had heard after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Was it a good training session then?" Elizabeth asked.

John turned to her from where he was straightening up the crash mats on the other side of the training room.

"Pretty good," he nodded, "they're still a bit clumsy with some of Ronon's drills, but they'll get the hang of it before too long. So are we heading to the mess hall?" he asked hopefully, straightening up and walking towards her. He felt hungry after so much physical exercise and he really just wanted to sit down for a bit.

"Is it alright if we go and see Rodney first?" Elizabeth asked, looking at him expectantly, "I want to see if he's come up with anything." John considered arguing with her, but she _had_ just sat through four hours of training, the least he could do was go with her to see if Rodney had found anything out.

"Okay," he agreed, "let me grab a quick shower and then we'll head down to see McKay, but if he starts jabbering on about something you have to cut him off straightaway. I'd do it, but he gets annoyed with me."

They headed back to his quarters and Elizabeth waited in his room while he took a shower, letting the warm water soothe him. If he'd been on his own he would have stayed in there for at least half an hour, but he didn't want to keep Elizabeth waiting. He pulled on the fresh clothes he'd taken into the ensuite and came out into his room, towelling his hair.

Elizabeth was studying the items that he had out in the room. She turned and smiled at him.

"You don't have many personal things," she told him softly. He shrugged.

"I've got my posters, my guitar, a few CDs."

"I mean sentimental things," she said gently, "photos, keepsakes, things that say who you are."

John studied the CD that she had in her hand, trying to think of how to reply. He gave another shrug.

"I don't really need any of those things, no-one here pays much attention anyway. Plus, I'm a guy." He stopped there, realising that he sounded like he was making excuses. He felt his cheeks growing warm, but if Elizabeth noticed she didn't show it.

"Perhaps I'm just too sentimental," she said with a smile. "Shall we head down to the lab?" she asked a second later, slipping the CD back onto the shelf. He nodded and followed her out of the room.

When they got to the lab Rodney and Zelenka were eerily silent, each of them studying a computer screen intently. John wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"McKay," he said, when neither Rodney nor Radek noticed that he and Elizabeth had entered the room.

"Sheppard," Rodney said in surprise. John frowned at him. "Oh right, yes, well it's not going too well. We thought we had a break through this morning, but the frequency that we thought might dissolve the link was-"

"Rodney, have you made any progress?" Elizabeth asked sternly.

"Yes, well, we might have done…"

"Rodney," John said in a warning tone.

"We analysed the results from last night and the link did seem to lessen in strength during your sleep cycle, Elizabeth, but the moment you began to wake up it returned to full strength."

"We believe that if one of you was unconscious we might be able to find a more permanent way to weaken the link," Radek said, coming forward.

"You want to knock one of us out?" John asked incredulously, he glanced at Elizabeth who looked slightly anxious at the thought.

"Ideally we wouldn't have to but nothing seems to be working," Rodney sighed.

"Fine," John said with a sigh, "but you're knocking me out, not Elizabeth."

"Actually-" Radek began, but Rodney cut him off.

"It would probably be better if Elizabeth was unconscious-"

"Rodney, I said no."

"Elizabeth has the prisoner's link; to this device _she's_ the dangerous party," he argued, "and that means that it's only likely to loosen if it thinks she's not a danger."

John was about to argue again; there was no way that he was going to let Elizabeth be knocked unconscious, not when he'd got her into this mess in the first place, but she cleared her throat and subtly shook her head at him.

"Do you want to do it now?" she asked. John resisted the urge to protest once again, and reluctantly nodded to Rodney when the scientist looked at him nervously.

"The sooner the better really," he nodded, "You might want to lie down on the bed."

Elizabeth glanced at John again before going and lying down.

"How are you going to knock her out?" John asked.

"I've sent for Carson to come and administer an injection," Rodney said, as he turned back to his laptop, and set up some new sensors.

"What about stunners?" Elizabeth asked.

"You'd pick to be stunned rather than injected?" Rodney asked turning to her in shock.

"It's quick and it doesn't drain any of our resources unnecessarily."

"We're not stunning you," John told her.

"It makes more sense."

"'Lizabeth, no-one picks to be stunned, it's painful, it's weird and most of the time it's down right annoying."

"And as you're doctor I don't advise it," Carson added as he came into the lab.

"Thank you," John nodded smugly, "Doctor's orders Elizabeth; you don't have a choice." She raised an eyebrow at him, but he met her stare defiantly and she was forced to back down when Carson moved around towards her.

"Inducing an unconscious state isn't something I would normally do to person in perfect health," Carson continued, with a grim smile, "but Rodney informs me that it might be the only way of sorting this problem out."

"Thank you Carson," Elizabeth said with a smile. John watched as Carson quickly injected something into Elizabeth's arm.

"You should feel sleepy," Carson told her gently. She nodded, her eyes drifting towards John before they finally closed. John sighed resignedly and watched Elizabeth as Rodney and Zelenka began tapping the keys of their computers, and attaching various sensors to Elizabeth's forehead.

"Anything?" John asked after a few seconds. Rodney frowned at his computer and shook his head.

"It's hard to say, but-" he stopped.

"But what?" John prompted. Rodney looked over at Zelenka.

"Do your readings say the same?" he asked the Czech.

"I think so, let me just run a secondary sweep."

"Rodney!" John said in frustration. Rodney turned to him with a smile.

"According to this the strength of the link has all but disappeared."

"That's great," John nodded.

"Try stepping closer to her." John did so and took a few tentative steps towards Elizabeth, not wanting to throw her off the bed if Rodney's readings were wrong, but nothing happened as he passed the 1.371 limit and moved closer.

"It's working," John breathed at Rodney, revelling in the sensation of being close to Elizabeth once again. He reached up a hand to gently place it on her arm, but when he was less than a few millimetres away the action forced Elizabeth's arm further into her side. He tried again and this time her whole body shifted over. He sighed. "Rodney?" he asked.

"I don't think it'll let you initiate any physical contact," he said with a frown. "Try testing the link on distance; can you move any further apart then 11.135 metres?" Obediently John headed out of the lab, surprised by his discomfort at leaving Elizabeth where she was.

"Tell me if she gets pulled by the link," he shouted back down the corridor. Zelenka appeared at the lab entrance and called back that so far it was fine. He continued down the corridor and realised, with a small amount of hope, that he had most definitely surpassed the link's limit; perhaps they would be able to break it before long.

"Sheppard." John turned to see that Rodney had joined Zelenka at the doorway. "According to our readings the link has nearly disappeared. We're going to wake Elizabeth up while you're outside of the link's parameters to see if that will sever it completely."

"Okay, I'll just wait here," John said, waving a hand at the two of them. They disappeared from the doorway and John felt strangely separate from the entire situation, and not a little unnerved by the fact that he wouldn't be there when Elizabeth woke up. What if something went wrong? He shook his head at the thought; they had a doctor and two scientists in there with her; if anything went wrong they'd be able to help. He leant on the wall and put his head back against it. If this didn't work he was sure that Elizabeth would kill him. He was inclined to laugh at the thought, but strained voices from the lab caught his attention. He pushed himself off the wall, his instincts calling him back to the lab, but he didn't want to ruin Rodney's research if he'd nearly found a solution. But the next words that he heard threw all of those thoughts out of the window.

"She hasn't got a pulse," came Carson's soft tones, tinged with anxiety. John felt fear spike through him and for a moment his mind went completely blank, but an instant later he was running back to the lab, desperate thoughts flooding through his mind.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked as he entered the room. Rodney was standing by the bed, a look of sheer horror on his face, while Carson hurriedly tried to restart Elizabeth's heart. "What happened?" John asked desperately; he should never have let her go through with it.

"I…I don't know, Carson tried to revive her and-" Rodney began, but he stopped as Elizabeth inhaled sharply, gasping for breath.

"'Lizabeth?" John asked urgently. She looked up at him in confusion while Carson checked her pulse and her breathing, without thinking John moved forwards, but Carson stopped him as Elizabeth was pushed backwards by the link. "Is she okay?" John asked instead, turning to Carson.

"What happened?" Elizabeth said quietly, her face creased into a frown. Rodney moved towards her, skirting around John as he did so.

"We tried to revive you when Sheppard was outside the limits of the link and-"

"And it nearly killed her," John said, rounding on Rodney with a glare.

"What? You think I did that on purpose? How was I supposed to know that the link would kill her if it thought it had been compromised?"

"You should have thought about it before hand," he said through gritted teeth.

"Well excuse me for not having a complete understanding of the alien prison restraint that you activated!" he argued back, his voice raised.

"John, Rodney, that's enough!" Elizabeth told them sternly. John gave Rodney a parting glare before turning back to Elizabeth, only to be faced with her stern expression. "That isn't helping. Rodney, did you manage to find anything out?" she asked. He turned back to his computers.

"A bit, maybe something we can work on."

"Well that's a start," she said gently. She bowed her head slightly and John felt his concern increase.

"Doc, is she okay?"

"Aye, she'll be fine."

"Good, then in that case…" Elizabeth began.

"No you don't," Carson told her gently but firmly.

"Carson, I appreciate your concern, but I feel fine."

"Elizabeth, your heart just stopped, it would be irresponsible of me as your doctor to allow you to do anything else today. You need to rest."

She looked up at John obviously hoping that he would back her up, but he shook his head; there was no way he was going to let her go and sit in her office for the rest of the evening and if it meant that he managed to avoid an evening of training reports then all the better. Elizabeth sighed and nodded her head.

"Very well, but I'd like to go and get some work from my office first."

John stifled a sigh as Carson gave her permission and twenty minutes later they were both in Elizabeth's quarters, files and stacks of paper everywhere.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Elizabeth sighed and looked up from her laptop.

"You sure you don't want anymore of this food?" John asked lazily from where he sat on her chair, his feet propped up on her mini coffee table and a magazine in his hands. "Rodney outdid himself with the room service."

"Probably because you made him feel so guilty," she told him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, you nearly died Elizabeth."

"I wasn't Rodney's fault," she argued.

"He should have thought it through."

"Can I point out that both you and I agreed to the experiment; no-one was to blame."

"Still, I was pretty hungry," John said, a grin creeping onto his face, "And you needed to rest Elizabeth."

"I could have managed a trip to the mess hall," she told him sharply.

"You're always telling me not to go against the doctor's orders," John told her, turning back to the magazine and picking up a few fries, "so you're not going anywhere." She narrowed her eyes at him and he turned back, grinning at her.

Elizabeth shook her head and glanced back at her screen, but the letters were beginning to blur together and she did feel completely drained. Carson had told her that her body might well go into shock because of the ordeal it had been through earlier, but that as long as she got plenty of rest she would recover quickly. She glanced back at John; he had stopped doing his work about half an hour after they'd got back to her quarters, in fact as soon as the food had arrived, and he had been trying to convince her to stop working ever since then. Perhaps she would take his advice now.

Quietly she pushed the lid of her laptop down and began to gather her files up. John caught the movement straightaway and sat up in the chair, turning to her with a smile.

"Finally. Honestly Elizabeth, you take working overtime to new levels."

"Well, I'm finished for the night."

"Good, because I've read this magazine twice." He threw the item in question down onto the coffee table and Elizabeth felt guilt fill her.

"John, I'm really sorry that you're stuck here."

"Nah, don't worry. My only plan for tonight was to spar with Ronon and Teyla, and they tend to team up against me after a while; it's never pretty." Elizabeth smiled at him gratefully; she knew exactly how much he enjoyed his sparring sessions. "Anyway," he continued, "this way we get the chance to catch up."

"We've been talking all day," she pointed out.

"We've been discussing work and this minor problem that we have at the moment," he told her, "there's a world of difference."

"Okay then, catching up it is, but is it okay if I get changed for bed first of all?"

"Sure; I'll get Rodney to bring me up my clothes."

"John," she told him sharply. He grinned.

"Don't worry; I'm fine in these clothes," he reassured her, moving over to the side of the room so that she could get to the ensuite without the link getting in the way. She shut the door and studied her reflection as she stood in front of the mirror, noting how tired she looked. There were shadows under her eyes and her hair was a mess from where she'd been leaning back against the wall as she sat on her bed. She dragged her fingers through it, suddenly very conscious of the fact that John Sheppard was standing the other side of the door. She realised with shock that she didn't want to go out there if she didn't at least look half pretty; she frowned at herself in the mirror; what was she doing thinking like that?

She turned away and quickly changed into her pyjamas, before washing her face and teeth. She made to head back into her room, but stopped suddenly as nervousness filled her at the thought of leaving the ensuite. She gave a frustrated sigh and opened the door; she was the leader of Atlantis; she could cope with her military commander. Walking into her room she saw John grabbing some blankets that she had hunted out of her cupboards earlier that evening. He turned and gave her a smile and she couldn't help but notice how his expression froze slightly, as if he was lost in thought for a few seconds.

She tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind and before she knew it John had disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Elizabeth slipped into her covers, relishing the soft duvet and mattress; she doubted that she'd stay awake long enough for her and John to catch up on anything, but she was sure he wouldn't mind if she slept; after all, she had had a pretty stressful day. He re-emerged from the ensuite a few minutes later, carrying his boots and his jacket in his hands. He quickly set them down at the side of his make shift bed, which was basically the floor with blankets over it, but he had positioned it so that if they did talk they'd be able to see each other's faces. He smiled up at her and lay down.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"You're the one that suggested it, you can think of a topic," she told him.

"Because I'm the one who suggested it I shouldn't have to."

"Okay then, well how do you think your new recruits will do when they begin off world training?"

"Elizabeth that's work," John told her with a frown. "The whole point of this is that we don't mention work. We could talk about football, or golf, or the latest films at the movies, anything like that."

"I don't watch football or golf and I haven't been to the cinema since coming to Atlantis," she told him.

"Okay, well do you have any plans for the summer?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed. "It's a fair question."

"Not when you know I'll be here. I wouldn't have time for a holiday even if I wanted one, but I suppose I've visited plenty of places that most people on Earth will never see."

"The perks of being an Atlantis expedition member; off world tours to suit every holiday need, sun, sea, sand-"

"And Wraith."

"I thought you were the optimist," he grinned.

"I try to be, but after a near death experience it can be hard to muster up the energy for optimism," she smiled back.

"Really? I've always found that a near death experiences take you through the whole 'new appreciation for life' feeling, you know, that sort of thing."

"Well you _are_ the expert."

"Don't I know it. But then it's just another day in Atlantis."

"You know, I never really understood what it would be like," she said, stifling a yawn as she looked at him.

"What were you expecting?"

"Oh, I don't know; a bit more negotiating perhaps, a little less action and adventure. I thought the trip would help me to learn about new cultures, spend time with different people, learning their ways, making friends."

"We do that," John told her.

"The joy can sometimes be taken out of it when there's a galaxy of Wraith and replicators out to destroy you," she smiled. "It's just not what I expected." She paused there, memories of the past two and a half years sweeping over her in a rush, before she realised that John was still staring at her. "What did you think you'd be doing on Atlantis?" she asked him, genuine curiosity flowing through her.

"I thought I'd be shooting alien bad guys and blowing things up. To be fair Atlantis pretty much met all my expectations," he grinned. She couldn't stop a laugh from passing across her lips at John's words. She should have known the answer to the question before she asked it.

"What are you going to do after Atlantis?" she continued, despite her tiredness she wanted to make the most of the opportunity to chat to John, just as John; it wasn't often that she got the chance to do so.

"After Atlantis?" he asked, shaking his head. "I never really think about after, I'm not entirely sure there will be an after."

"What do you mean?" she asked with a frown. He shrugged awkwardly from where he lay.

"Oh, you know. My chances of getting out of all this alive are pretty slim."

"Don't talk like that," she told him, a shudder going through her at the thought of what could happen to John, to any of the expedition, at any time.

"You've gotta be a realist, Elizabeth. I mean I'm hoping that I do get out of this in one piece, but we both know there's no guarantee."

"I know," she nodded, because she did, she understood perfectly the dangers that were out there. "I suppose any of us could…" she trailed off.

"But hey, we're all still alive right now," he continued, obviously trying to lighten the tone. "And you've got me as your own personal bodyguard at the moment as well."

"Except that you can't get near me," she pointed out.

"True, but I can shoot anything that does."

"I appreciate the thought, but at the moment it's only likely to be Rodney and Zelenka that get anywhere near me and I'd prefer it if you didn't shoot them." He pouted at her slightly and she rolled her eyes. "But, anyway, supposing you do survive this, what _are_ you going to do after Atlantis?"

"What could I possibly do to follow Atlantis?" he asked her with a wry smile. "Nothing could ever come close."

"So when you're eighty years old you're still going to be running around fighting the Wraith?"

"By that time I'm hoping to have wiped them all out. But I still plan to be here, annoying Rodney, flying jumpers. In fact we should start setting aside some quarters for people who retire here."

Elizabeth looked at him and shook her head slightly. He had a way of looking at things, that was for sure.

"So you're telling me that you're never going to leave Atlantis?"

"How could I? Come on Elizabeth you can't seriously tell me that you ever would." She smiled at his expression and gave a small laugh.

"No, I suppose I wouldn't."

"There we go then; you'll be stuck with me for the next fifty years," he said with a grin.

"Well in that case we'll have plenty of time to 'catch up' won't we," she said as she failed to suppress another yawn.

"Is that a hint?" he asked.

"Maybe."

"I'll let you sleep then."

She nodded at him and he gave her another grin.

"Goodnight 'Lizabeth," he said quietly. "Catching up has been fun."

"Yes, it has," she nodded, because it had been great. In the few minutes that they had been chatting, Elizabeth had found herself unwinding and relaxing; her worries melting into John's reassuring voice. "Goodnight John," she whispered back, before closing her eyes. She felt herself drifting into sleep almost immediately and within a few minutes she knew nothing.

* * *

John didn't close his eyes when Elizabeth did. He stared up at her, her face creased into a slight smile and the light from her window lighting up her skin, making her look almost ghostlike, but so beautiful at the same time. He stopped at that thought; he thought she was beautiful? He frowned and shook his head; stray thoughts like that could not be a good sign for his professionalism, but nevertheless he didn't take his eyes from her as her breathing deepened. His eyes were fixed on her face for several minutes, and all he could hear was her even breathing. When he finally closed his eyes it was her image that was etched into the darkness.

* * *

John couldn't make out what was been said in his half asleep state the following morning, but he recognised her voice instantly, her soft murmurings bringing him to full awareness. He opened one eye and looked up to see Elizabeth talking quietly into her headset and pacing the room in obvious agitation. She was already dressed and by the looks of her laptop on her bed had been working for awhile, he rolled his eyes; it couldn't be much past dawn and yet she was up and about, and already starting the day. In fact John was surprised that she hadn't woken him up, years of military training meant that he was an incredibly light sleeper, which meant that Elizabeth either had more stealth than she let on, or that his subconscious had told him that he was safe where he was.

He watched her as she moved from one side of the room to the other. Her arms were folded in front of her and occasionally she would reach up and run a hand through her hair, her face tense with the concentration. John couldn't help but smile as he saw her suppress a sigh; for all her professionalism she really did get as wound up about things as the rest of them.

"I don't have a problem with it, Rodney, but I don't think John will like it," she said, and John's eye's creased in confusion; what was going on?

"What won't I like?" he asked, pushing the blankets back and sitting up. Elizabeth turned in surprise and looked notably worried at his question; his concern shot up a notch.

"Rodney thinks he can find out a way to permanently disable the link."

"And what exactly won't I like about it?" he repeated. Elizabeth turned and faced him fully, folding her arms across her chest.

"It will involve stopping my heart like we did yesterday." John didn't even bother responding to Elizabeth, but he kept a firm gaze on her as he tapped his own radio.

"Rodney, I'm going to say no; think of another way," he said, his tone hard.

"Sheppard, look, I know what you're thinking-"

"I'm not sure you do, otherwise you'd have scrapped the idea before repeating it to Elizabeth."

"If there was another way then I'd do it, but me and Zelenka have been going over the data from yesterday; the link changed and became more clear when Elizabeth was…when she was-"

"When she was dead Rodney," John finished for him angrily.

"It's not like we're just going to kill her and hope for the best," Rodney told him in annoyance, "I'll have a full medical team on hand and Carson will oversee-"

"That's not the point Rodney, you could kill her, and I mean permanently."

"The risk is minimal and I think it's the only way of getting the information we need. It'd be for just over a minute and me and Zelenka would be able to get everything in one go."

"I don't care," John argued back fiercely, turning and pacing the room. "I am not going to let-"

"John," Elizabeth said firmly. He turned to her and she tapped her radio. "Rodney I'll get back to you in just a minute." She looked up at him, but he kept his face expressionless. "John, I know this sounds dangerous, but this is the only way."

"We don't know that; you know what McKay's like, he convinces himself of the worst but then he always manages to think of something. I guarantee you; if you give him more time, he'll come up with another plan."

"You can't be sure of that." Elizabeth told him, her eyes narrowed. "He and Zelenka have been working non-stop since this started and I don't think he would suggest this unless he'd exhausted all other options. It won't take long and with the medical team I'll be safe-"

"They're talking about killing you Elizabeth!" John said in a raised voice, feeling frustration and anger pulsing through him, "there is nothing safe about that, believe me; I've done it before," he muttered fiercely, turning away from her. There was a slight pause before Elizabeth spoke up, her voice gentle but leaving no room for argument.

"John, I appreciate your concern, but when it comes down to it this really isn't your decision."

"The hell it isn't!" He whirled round and took two steps towards her, but the link kicked in and pushed her back. He stopped, clenching his fists at his sides, before raising a hand and pointing at her. "I'm responsible for the safety of every single person on this base; you included, and there is no way I'm going to let them stop your heart, no matter how safe they reckon it is."

"In this instance, John, I can overrule you," she said gently. "This isn't a matter of a military attack, there is no danger to anyone else. As long as Carson agrees then you can't stop it."

"There's no way the doc will agree to this." She smiled sympathetically at him, real concern and apology in her eyes. He knew what was coming.

"He's already agreed."

John turned away once again, feeling more and more trapped with every second that passed. Perhaps this was the only way, but it was too dangerous, too risky and it had only been two days since they'd got themselves linked, how could Rodney have possibly checked everything in that amount of time?

"John?" Elizabeth said gently. He looked at her, his eyes creased into a scowl. "I know you don't like this, I'm not keen on the idea myself, but Rodney assures me that it's the only chance he and Zelenka will have for figuring out how to disable the link."

"I could just refuse to move you do realise," he told her, folding his arms in defiance.

"Except that you promised you wouldn't exploit the power you had over me again," she pointed out. John snapped his mouth shut as a response to the effect of 'I don't want to keep that promise anymore' came to mind, but inwardly his thoughts were everywhere; he deemed this a perfectly responsible reason for breaking that promise, but he knew that he couldn't. He had promised Elizabeth something, and he was a man of his word. He stood up straight and looked at her once again.

"Fine," he muttered through clenched teeth, "but I don't agree with this decision," he added forcefully. Normally when they argued he would storm off at the end, but in this instance that wasn't physically possible. An uncomfortable silence began to stretch out, before Elizabeth began to sort through her papers and files.

"I just need to sort these out to take back to my office first and then-"

"I'll be waiting outside," John interrupted, before leaving the room and leaning against the corridor wall a few metres away; if he couldn't storm off he at least needed a couple of minutes to clear his head and get rid of some of the anger that was coursing through him. He hated this idea, hated it completely and utterly, yet there was nothing he could do to stop it; he wouldn't even be able to be close to her in case anything did go wrong, his job was to protect her and this time he was completely helpless to do anything.

He pushed off from the wall and sighed in frustration; he hated this link, hated not being able to get close to Elizabeth. He stopped mid stride and frowned in confusion; was that what he hated about the link? Surely a part of it was not being able to get any time just to himself? But he thought back over the last two days; not once had he resented the fact that he had to remain close to Elizabeth, the only thing that had wound him up was the fact that he couldn't move closer to her.

Behind him the doors to Elizabeth's quarters slid open. She stood there, looking uncomfortably at him and he felt guilty for the way he'd spoken to her in her room.

"Elizabeth-" he began, but she beat him to it.

"John, I'm really sorry that I've pulled a chain of command on you, I'm only doing what I think is best."

"I understand why you're doing it, but I still don't agree." He sighed and gave her a half smile. "Still, I'll support your decision, you won't have any more argument from me. Although if you die on the table, I might have a few choice words for Rodney."

She smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes and the severity of the situation sank down on both of them as they headed down the corridor.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Elizabeth took a deep breathe as she lay down on the bed that was still in Rodney's lab from the first night they had slept there. She was already linked up to numerous machines and Carson was standing next to her, quickly checking her vital signs, hooking her up to even more machines while Rodney and Zelenka configured the last few things on their sensors. She glanced over at the lab entrance to see John leaning against it, one arm folded across his chest and the other one reaching up so that his chin was resting on his hand. He had wireless sensors dotted about his body, but he barely seemed to notice them, his expression was grave, his eyes bearing none of their usual humour and it made Elizabeth nervous. She hated the fact that this was upsetting him so much, but she really didn't see any other choice; Rodney would not have suggested it except as a last resort.

"Right," Rodney said turning round, "I think we're about ready. Carson?"

"Aye," he nodded with a sigh. "We're ready." Elizabeth gave both of them a reassuring nod and watched as Rodney nervously turned to John.

"Sheppard?" he asked quietly. "Ready?"

"Oh yeah, can't wait," he muttered. Rodney cleared his throat and decided, wisely in Elizabeth's opinion, not to say anything else. She glanced over at John, he held her gaze for several seconds before nodding at her. She smiled back at him, before turning her attention to Carson.

"I'm going to administer a sedative to put you into an unconscious state, we'll stop your heart after that," he explained gently. He picked up a syringe from the table beside him and she felt a small prick as he pierced the skin on her arm and pressed the syringe in. "Just a few seconds," he told her with a soft, but sad smile.

"I'll see you in a bit," she told him, before turning back to John. Tiredness swept over her in an instant and his worried expression was the last thing she saw before darkness overtook her.

* * *

John stared at the wall in front of him, completely still as he waited down the corridor. He knew that to anyone who walked past he looked completely calm, the same relaxed, laid back Military Commander that he always was, but inside he felt like he was slowly coiling up, tension mounting with every second that passed. He still didn't think that this was a good idea, nothing could ever convince him that stopping someone's heart was the best course of action, his iratus bug experience being the one exception, and the fact that it was Elizabeth made it even harder to go along with. Something about her always brought his protective instincts to the forefront, made him want to do his very best by her, she had an effect on him that he couldn't quite describe, yet it was irrefutable. But the hardest part about this entire situation was the fact that right now, when she was most vulnerable, he couldn't be there for her; he was stuck at the other end of the corridor straining to hear what was going on in the lab and yet at the same time unwilling to listen.

He heard a sad affirmative from Carson telling John that her heart had stopped, now Rodney and Radek needed seventy or eighty seconds to complete their research before they could bring her back.

John began to count.

And as he did his memory of the last few days became sharp, the way she had smiled at him constantly, had laughed at his jokes, had put up with being thrown against walls and pulled onto the floor over and over again. Everything she had said to him, all the casual comments, the friendly conversations, those things that they didn't usually get the opportunity to share, all of them came back to him, and despite the tension in his body he found himself smiling.

But soon his mind turned back to the situation at hand as he mentally continued to count. The seconds seemed to stretch out to a ridiculous length, each one digging into him, tempting him into running back to the lab, but he fought the sensations; he was not going to jeopardise the research, not if it meant that Elizabeth would have to go through this again, and so he stood perfectly still waiting for the seconds to tick away. He glanced up as he got to eighty and saw Rodney staring at him from the doorway, a tired, but reassuring smile on his face.

"She's fine and we got what we needed."

John nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but the words were snatched from him as relief flooded through him and so he simply nodded again, gathering his thoughts as he walked back to the lab, his step quickening as his desire to see her alive and well overcame him.

His eyes snapped to her the moment he walked through the door. She looked tired and her eyes were half closed, but there was a steady beat on the heart monitor and it reassured John.

"Colonel," Carson said on spotting him. "She's fine." At the words Elizabeth's eyes opened fully and she searched him out, smiling when she saw him. He allowed Rodney to take off the sensors that had been attached to his own body during the procedure and moved as close to Elizabeth as he could.

"How you doing 'Lizabeth?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine," she nodded. "Did you get your results Rodney?" she asked turning to the scientist who was evidently waiting to say something.

"Yes, in fact we got everything, we know how to break the link."

"What, right now?" John asked.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Well how?"

"We need to go to the holding cells," he muttered, and John suddenly noticed how sheepish the scientist looked. Normally when he had cracked something like this he'd take the opportunity to gloat wherever possible. He glanced over at Zelenka to see the Czech smiling smugly.

"Zelenka was right wasn't he," John said realisation dawning on him. "The frequency of the link; he _had_ seen it before hadn't he."

"What," Rodney scowled, "No of course not."

"Yes, I had," Zelenka nodded.

"You hadn't seen it before, neither of us had seen it before."

"Yes, but I recognised the similarities it had with the frequency of the cell force fields."

"You never once mentioned the force fields," Rodney returned, clearly annoyed.

"But I knew that we were missing something and you dismissed it out of hand," Zelenka said smugly.

"What are you talking about?" John asked in frustration.

"When Elizabeth heart stopped the link changed slightly and we were able to compare it with all frequencies that run throughout Atlantis' different systems," Rodney explained with a sigh.

"And…?" John prompted.

"And it matched a frequency, just like I said it would," Zelenka said proudly.

"Oh come on," Rodney whined, "that's hardly a detailed prediction. The only reason we found it out for certain is because of my idea to carry out this experiment and-"

"Rodney," Elizabeth interrupted as she attempted to sit up in the bed. Carson quickly gave her a hand and John noted, with concern, how tired she looked. "Can you break the link or not?"

"Yes," he nodded. "If we put you in the prison cell and activate the force shields the link will break."

"That's it?" John asked incredulously. "That's all you had to figure out?"

"Look, it's a lot more complicated than that and we only know this now because of the transformation the link went through when Elizabeth's heart had stopped, but if I tried to explain it you wouldn't understand, so I'd appreciate a little less patronisation and a little more, 'thank you Rodney, we couldn't have done it without you.'"

"I think I'll save it until we know your theory works," John retorted sharply. "Doc, can we do this now?"

"I'd advise a good few hours of sleep first," Carson told him, "I don't know what strain a breakage in the link could put on the body."

"No, I want to do this now," Elizabeth said firmly. John bit back his frustration; why couldn't she just take things easy once in a while?

"Elizabeth," he said with a sigh.

"No, John; this way if it doesn't work, Rodney and Radek can continue working on it straight away."

"She's got a point," Rodney nodded. John shot him a sharp look.

"What if it's dangerous?" he asked her.

"Rodney," she said, turning to the scientist, "do any of your results suggest that breaking the link will have an affect on me?"

"No, not as far as I can tell." John glanced at Zelenka who nodded in confirmation.

"Carson?" Elizabeth asked. The doctor looked at her sternly.

"I have to agree with Colonel Sheppard, you need rest."

"But-" she began, but John cut her off.

"The doc has spoken Elizabeth. You better get ready for your nap." She scowled at him, but allowed herself to be led to the infirmary and within minutes she was asleep. John found himself watching her once again as he took up his vigil beside her; if Rodney's plan did work then he probably wouldn't get chance to see her like this again and he was going to make the most of it. He leant back in the chair and turned towards her, a smile on his face.

* * *

Although she wasn't going to admit it to John, Elizabeth was glad of the rest. She had felt exhausted in Rodney's lab and she didn't think she'd have managed a walk to the holding cells without falling. Now, though, she walked strongly, feeling sure of her footsteps, while Rodney, Carson and John headed the same way. John glanced back at her and gave her a smile which she returned, it would be good to get rid of the link, although she felt strangely sad at the thought of seeing John every once in a while rather than all the time; sure they argued sometimes, but she enjoyed his company more than anyone on the base, he made her laugh and, although it annoyed her sometimes, he understood her completely. At least with the link gone they'd be able to stand next to each other once again; she was looking forward to that.

They reached the holding cells a few minutes later and Elizabeth found herself being led into one of them by Rodney, while he tried to explain to her why it made sense that the link would be broken by this force field. Something about only needing to keep a Wraith restrained until they could be imprisoned and then not needing the link within Atlantis because of the security that would have been available. Elizabeth nodded at all the right moments, but she wasn't really listening; she didn't really care how it was supposed to work this time, she just wanted to find out if it did. Rodney seemed to realise this as his explanation continued because he cleared his throat in obvious annoyance and left the cell. She took a deep breath and glanced over at John to see him doing the same.

"Okay," Rodney said, as he moved over to the cell controls, "is everybody ready?" Elizabeth nodded at him and a murmur of affirmation came from John and Carson. "Well here goes," Rodney continued. Elizabeth closed her eyes and waited whilst Rodney tapped at the buttons. She heard the force field hum to life, but she felt no different. She opened her eyes, to see that John looked equally unconvinced by the success of Rodney's plan.

"Are you sure this has worked?" she heard him ask Rodney, "I don't feel a thing."

"You didn't feel a thing when the link was first initiated either," Rodney pointed out. "Right, that should be it," he said a few seconds later. He looked around at everybody once more before turning off the cell force field and opening the door.

Elizabeth didn't move, and looked over at John to signal that he should. He took a deep breath and slowly moved forward, while Rodney and Carson looked on. Elizabeth didn't take her eyes from John's as he approached, but she knew when he had passed the 1.371 limit, because his face broke into a wide smile and he stepped forward quickly until he was right in front of her. He held up his hand, obviously intent on testing that physical contact had also been re-established. Elizabeth reached up her own hand and pressed her palm to his, revelling the feel of being so close to him once again. But then, to her surprise, John linked his fingers through hers, she gave him a confused smile, but followed suit and they stood there for several seconds, their hands held together, watching each other closely.

"I think you owe Rodney an apology," she told him a few moments later, a wry smile on her face.

"Nah, he thrives under my scepticism," John grinned, "gives him chance to show me how wrong I am."

On cue Rodney came forward, a smug smile on his face and reluctantly Elizabeth drew her hand back from John's.

"I think it's safe to say that I have saved you once again," he murmured.

"Thank you Rodney," she told him, pouring her gratitude into the words.

"Thanks buddy," John added, giving Rodney a firm pat on the back.

"I'd like to say that it was my pleasure, but I'm tired and I'm caffeine deprived and I have to say there were better things that I could have been doing."

"Well we appreciate it," Elizabeth assured him. Carson stepped forward.

"The two of you better report to the infirmary before the end of the day, just to check everything's fine."

"Will do," John nodded, before Carson disappeared into the corridor. Elizabeth turned to John with a sigh,

"The paperwork on this is going to be a pain," she told him.

"Well we could go to your office and get it out the way now," John suggested with a shrug.

"Wait a second," Rodney said with a frown, "you've been stuck together for the last two days and it's the lack of the 1.371 metre limit that you make the most of? I thought you'd want to get away from each other."

"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked him sharply.

"No not you," Rodney said with a shake of his head. "Elizabeth's good company, I get why you're staying, but aren't you fed up with him?" he asked, turning to Elizabeth. She tried in vain to hide the smile that was threatening to spread across her face, but one look at John's thoroughly annoyed expression made that impossible.

"It's a good job you just helped me out Rodney, or I'd have a few things to say," John muttered.

"It's a fair question," he argued, turning to Elizabeth, but she simply smiled at him and he seemed to decide that he was better off in his bed, because he headed off without further comment.

Elizabeth and John headed down to her office, walking shoulder to shoulder as they made their way round the corridors, enjoying the use of transporters once again.

"Well that's all sorted out," John told her as they headed into her office; there was a stack of new papers on her desk and she hid her dismay at the work she was behind on. She decided that for now she would ignore it and sat down on her chair while John took up his usual position on the corner of her desk.

"It's been an interesting couple of days," she nodded with a smile.

"Admit it; you've had a great time," John told her with a grin. She raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue; she'd had worse days in Atlantis. "So I guess now we just need to do the report."

"Here," she said, turning her laptop screen to face him. "I started writing mine up yesterday, you can use it as a template if you want."

"I dunno; kinda feels like cheating on my homework."

"So you don't want it?" she asked.

"I was never one for rule following," he grinned. She smiled back at him and quickly emailed the file over to his account. With that done she sat back on her chair and looked up at him; they had nothing else that they needed to do together.

"So, I guess I should probably go and track down Ronon; I'm sure he'd like the chance to kick my ass again."

"And it looks like I've got some catching up to do," she said, nodding towards the things that were spread all over her desk.

"Okay…well I'll see you later," John said slowly, getting up from the desk, she nodded back and he turned to go, but couldn't ignore the disappointment that swelled in her chest as she watched him walk away; she was glad to be free of the link, that was for sure, but she no longer had an excuse to chat to John, to share with him, just to be with him. She sighed and looked down at her work, sadness flowing through her, but a knock on the glass brought her gaze back up. She smiled; there was John, leaning against the doorframe, his hands folded lazily across his chest.

"You know," he said matter-of-factly, "I really feel like we haven't made enough time for each other recently, Elizabeth. Do you feel like heading to the mess hall for a coffee?" She stared at him for several seconds before standing up and walking over to him, unable to stop the smile that was creeping onto her face.

"I'd love to," she nodded, taking up her place at his side as they headed across the bridge.

* * *

_**THE END**_

* * *


End file.
